Clothes-assorting mechanism



. June 24 1924. 1,498,920 J. E. KELSO CLOTHES ASSORTING MECHANISM Filed Jan. 11 1923 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 cfazmzsji'feis0 W IN V EN TOR.

June 24. 1924. 7 1,498,920; J. E. KELSO CLOTHES ASSORTING MECHANISM Filed Jan. 11 1923 r2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

James ZTIeZso zig4TTORNEY Patented June 24, 1924.

UNITED STATES JAMES E. KELSO, OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK.

CLOTHESASSORTING MECHANISM.

Application filed January 11, 1923.

To all whom it may 0012 (em Be it known that I, JAMEs E. Knnso, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Rochester, in the county of Monroe and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in ClothesAssorting Mechanism, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a clothes assorting mechanism, and has for its purpose to afford a simple and practical apparatus whereby clothes can be readily classified and grouped, preparatory to washing them.

According to present laundry practice in many places, soiled clotliesare placed within nets and a series of such nets filled with clothes are placed within the washing machine, so. that it is important for each of such nets not to contain more than a given quantity or weight of clothes, if efficient and thorough washing is to be performed, and it is a further object of the invention to pro vide means, in connection with the assorting mechanism, whereby the operator will be informed when any particular class or group of clothes contains its maximum of weight, preliminarily to being placed within the net.

The invention also comprehends certain other advantages and detailed improvements, all of which will appear clearly from the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, the novel features being pointed out in the claims at the end of the specification.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of a mechanism embodying a preferred arrangement of the invention;

Figure 2 is a rear elevation;

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view show ing one of the containers in normal position, as indicated by full lines, and in discharging position as indicated in dot-ted lines;

Figure 4 is a. similar view illustrating one container in its normal uppermost position and a second container in the posit-ion which it occupies when it has received the predetermined amount of clothes;

Figure 5 is a horizontal sectional view on the line 55 of Figure 3, and

Figure 6 is a horizontal sectional view on the line 66 of Figure 3.

In preparing soiled clothes for washing in laundries, one practice that is becoming quite common is to assort the clothes, putting colored clothes in one group, white Serial No. 612,138.

coarse clothes in another group, white fine clothes in another group and so on, classifying them into as many lots as desirable. Each group is then placed in a net, which is closed to retain the clothes, and is then placed in the washing machine. The present apparatus is designed with a view to enabling an operator to easily assert clothes into as many groups as desired, and insure not getting more than the maximum allotment, ten pounds for instance, into each group.

' To accomplish this, I employ a table 1 on which the clothes are initially placed. Arranged above and at the rear of the table 1 is a series of containers in the form of hoppers 2, each of which is preferably open at the front end to receive clothes as the operator select-s them from the table 1 and throws them into the particular container. Each container is movable to discharge its contents onto-the table 1, and to this end'is pivotally mounted or hinged at the upper end of a support or standard 3. The container is normally in the position shown in full lines in Figure 3, being inclined downwardly toward the rear, so that its weight serves to retain it in its upper position, and4 is a bracket carried by the support 3 and serving as a rest for the container 2. lVhen itis desired to discharge the contents of any container onto the table, it is tilted to the position shown in dotted lines in Figure 3, and can then be swung back to its normal position. It is the usual procedure to first assort the clothes into different containers, according to any desired classification, and after all the clothes on the table 1 have been placed in one or other of the various containers, the latter are then tilted, one at a time, to discharge the clothes back onto the table 1, and the clothes from each container are placed in a. net before discharging the contents of another container onto the table. It is important that the clothes in any given container be not more than ten pounds, or any other predetermined amount, according to the size of the net that is used, and to accomplish this I have provided an arrange ment that automatically gives to the operator an indication when any container has received its maximum allotment. To this end, each support or standard 3 is arranged for vertical sliding movement, and carries a stop 5, which engages the rail 6, see Figure 2, to limit its upward movement. Pivotally or may be varied as to size to provide for different weights of clothes, and with the arrangement just described, when any particular container 2 has received its given allotment, the weight of the clothes overcomes the weight 9, and causes the support 3 to dro downwardly from the position shown in igure 3 to that illustrated in Figure 4, where one containeris illustrated in its uppermost position and the other container in its lowered position after receiving its maximum allotment of clothes.

While the invention has been described with reference to a particular structure, it is not confined to the precise arrangement herein disclosed, but maybe variously modified without departing from the underlying fea tures of the improvement or of the following claims.

I claim: r

1. A clothes assorting mechanism comprising a sorting table, a series of counterbalanced clothes hoppers movably located above and at the rear of the table, each of said hoppers being open at the front and tiltable forwardly to discharge its contents on to the sorting table, each hopper being movable downwardly when, it has received a prededischarge its contents on to the sorting table, and being automatically movable upon receiving a predetermined amount of clothes to give an indication of such condition.

3. A clothes assorting mechanism COHIPIIS': mg a sorting table, a vertically shdable support, a clothes hopper pivotally mounted at I the upper end of the support, whereby it is tiltableto dis-charge its contents on to the table, and counterbalancing means connected to'the lower part of the support.

4. A clothes assorting mechanism comprising atable, a vertically s'lidable support, a container pivotally supported at the upper end of the support whereby it is tiltable to discharge its contents on to the table, and a weighted counter-balancing lever connected to the lower part of the support. Q

In witness whereof, I have hereunto signed my name.

JAMES E. KELSO. 

